Robert Jackson
and
The Deep River Plantation Singers
A group described as the Deep River Plantation Singers made a session of eight religious songs in January 1931. Blues Records informs us that the session was "originally entered in the files as by Jackson's Plantation Singers" and that "performer royalties . . were paid to V. S. Brown, but it is not known whether he is a member of the group, their manager, or a recording contractor." The six issued titles have been reissued on Document DOCD-5519 and DOCD-5606; in the liner notes to the former issue Chris Smith comments that the group is "factually obscure" and speculates that "Jackson” "was probably their manager, and may have been a member too."
This is posthumously correct! "Jackson" was Robert G. Jackson. A few words about his background - the 1870 Census shows as living in Fayette County KY 43 year old ‘hostler’ Jordan Jackson with his wife, 44 year old Ann, and their four children - Edward (22), Jordan (21), Mary (21) and John (19). All of the family were born in Kentucky and the two eldest boys worked as farm hands. The family prospered - John was to become the first president of Kentucky State University and Jordan was the first black undertaker in Lexington and a prominent figure in the city’s black community. In the 1880 census Edward was living in Sandersville with his wife Delila and their two month old son Robert and was described as a farmer. By 1900 the number of his children had increased to twelve and his occupation was given as dairyman. Soon after this, in 1902, Robert, who had been educated at Lawrence High School and the University of Kansas and had been appointed head of the newly created department of music in Western University, Kansas (1), married Clara M. Sparks. In the 1910 census they were living in Nebraska Avenue, Wyandotte, Kansas (and the 1905 Kansas State Census shows they were already there in that year) with their daughters Marie A. and Bleter (sic - she appears as Aleta or Alita in later records) V. and three of Robert’s sisters. Robert and Clara had been married for seven years; he was a music teacher and she worked as a public school teacher. The marriage did not last, however. The 1915 Kansas State Census shows Clara, Marie and Aleta living with Nera and Hattie Sparks in Lawrence, Kansas, while in the 1920 census Marie and Aleta were listed as living with their grandparents, Nero and Hattie Sparks, in Lawrence. This is confirmed by the 1925 Kansas State Census which lists Clara, described as a divorced school teacher, living with Marie and Aleta in the house of
Hattie Sparks, now a widow, in Lawrence. By 1920
Robert had acquired a new wife for in the census of that year he is listed as a music teacher - university living in Quindaro Township with his twenty five year old, California born, wife, Antionette (sic). Antoinette was not to survive her husband long, dying in Kansas on May 20 1930.Robert Jackson was a distinguished pianist and organist, he is said to have played the organ at the World's Fairs in San Francisco (1915) and San Diego (1915-16). It may well have been on this visit to San Francisco that the event reported in the Oakland (CA) Tribune of September 1 1915 took place:-
Robert G. Jackson, head of the department of music, Western University, who last week conducted a concert of one hundred of the best colored singers around the bay, will, by special request, repeat this concert in the Civic Auditorium of San Francisco on Thursday night with the addition of the best colored soloists in compositions by negro composers. (2)
He is said to have founded the Jackson Jubilee Singers in 1907, after the example of the Fisk University Singers, as a means of publicising and raising funds for Western University. (3) The earliest reference I have found comes from a report in the Kansas City Advocate of May 9 1919 of "the last pipe organ recital by Prof. R. G. Jackson, for the season . . . Then came the surprise. The Jackson Jubilee Concert company in Miserere by Verdi. Mrs. R. A. Jackson as soprano, Mrs. James Stewart and the other five fine female contralto and four gentleman with fine bass and tenor voices." There are reports of other local appearances and by 1922 they began to be featured regularly on the "chautauqua" circuit - these were tent shows which toured rural areas and small towns providing uplifting entertainment. "At its peak in the mid-1920s, circuit Chautauqua performers and lecturers appeared in more than 10,000 communities in 45 states to audiences totaling 45 million people". (4) The shows included drama, music, lectures as well as magicians, jugglers and other entertainers suitable for a family audience. "Numerous Jubilee Singers companies, based on the original from Fisk University, could be seen on the Circuits every summer. For the largely white audiences these spirituals demonstrated a very different way of seeing African Americans in performance than minstrelsy offered". (5) In the winter the tent show was replaced by the lyceum (or winter chautauqa) courses which were usually held in high school auditoria and involved lectures and musical performances.
One of the largest booking agencies for the Chautauqua performers was the Redpath Lyceum Bureau, whose records are held by the University of Iowa. (6) Among the jubilee groups who worked for the Redpath Bureau was that organised by Robert Jackson and several of the items in the collection refer to it. The earliest is an itinerary of the Jackson Plantation Singers for Fall 1926/Winter 1927, which lists the personnel of what was obviously a quartet as J. L. Dickinson (1st Tenor, trombone and banjo), V. S. Brown (2nd Tenor and Pianist), C. L. Russell (Baritone and Manager) and R. C. Raines (Bass and Guitar); R. G. Jackson is described as "General Manager." It will be noted that the mention of V. S. Brown makes it virtually certain that this group is related to that which recorded in 1931. The other material in the collection is undated. One brochure of Robert Jackson's Plantation Singers depicts a male quartet with one member holding a guitar and another a banjo. Another (of the Jackson Jubilee Singers) has a photo of a male quartet and also one of a mixed sextet plus pianist; they are identified as Edgar Shupee (1st Tenor), C. L. Russell (2nd Tenor), Minnie C. Gilbert (Soprano), Dorothy Langston (Alto), Jackson Trueitt (Baritone), Neoma Campbell (Bass) and Hartzell Parham (Pianist). A different Jackson Jubilee Singers brochure shows a group of five men (one at the piano) and two women, and a male quartet. They are said to be all members of the Allen Chapel Choir in Kansas City, to have been together for several years and to have just returned from a three months concert tour through the central West under the management of Charles F. Horner. They are identified as Robert Jackson, pianist and director; Antoinette Jackson, soprano; Edgar Lee Shupee, 1st tenor "member for two years of the Dixie Jubilee Singers;" Fred Fitchue, 2nd tenor; Eleanor Taylor, contralto "formerly a member of the famous Dixie Jubilee Singers;" Percy H. Lee, baritone; Herbert S. Williams, bass "formerly a member of Musurgian Concert Company, the Wilburforce Glee Club, and the Ohio State Peerless Entertainers." Another artist who is known to have worked in one of Jackson's groups is Emma Moten Barnett (7) ; it is also said (8) that Eva Jessye did so, but I have thus far found no evidence for this. It would not be surprising, given that both ladies were graduates of Western University
Local newspapers provide a little more information. They show that the Jackson Jubilee Singers appeared at chautauquas in the summer of 1922; on September 15 1922 The Kansas City (KS) Kansan reported that "Mrs. George Taylor . . . has returned from a 90-day tour with the Jackson Jubilee Singers on the Redpath-Horner chautauqua circuit." This is confirmed by a report in The Topeka (KS) Plaindealer of July 27 1923 that "During the summer [Jackson's] company of Jubilee Singers appear in Chautauqua. They have appeared in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. This is Prof. Jackson's second season of Chautauqua work. The singers were a tremendous hit the first season, so much so that he has two companies in Chautauqua this season - one in the extreme north and the other in the central section." The Kansas City Advocate of September 21 1923 mentions “Mr. Fitshugh of the Second Baptist church, Kansas City” as a member and the February 15 1924 issue of the same paper picks out “Mrs. Taylor, contralto soloist” for special mention. It must have been round this time too that James H. Taylor was a member of the group. A report in The Plaindealer (Kansas City) of March 23 1934 says that “he was two years a member of the Jackson Jubilee Singers” before moving to Chicago in 1924 and working as vocalist with Benny Moten and King Oliver. A couple of newspaper reports say that the group was a quintet but photos from the season also show a seven member group, presumably reflecting the fact that two sets of Jackson Jubilee Singers were on the road.
Winter 1923/4 saw only local appearances but they reappear in the summer 1924 and the winter 1924/5 chautauqua seasons, performing in various locations.
A few of the comments from local newspapers - "a company of seven colored musicians" (The Emporia (KS) Daily Gazette September 24 1924), "the Jackson Jubilee Singers, made up of five men and two ladies" (Daily Kennebec Journal [Augusta ME] December 3 1924), "a delegation of negro Methodists (9) who have everything in the way of harmony and melody, combined with a very pleasing program. They feature quartet work which brings out to advantage a male colored quartet which is especially well balanced. The company is composed of four men and two women singers and a lady piano accompanist. Old plantation songs are sung, and then the program is relieved by melodies full of snap and humour” Fitchburg (MA) Sentinel January 5 1925) A report of a concert in The Topeka (KS) Plaindealer of April 3 1925 lists the personnel as “Miss Virginia Henley, Mr. Edgar L. Shupee, Mr. Jackson C. Trueitt, Miss Neoma Campbell, and Mr. C. L. Russell.” At Emporia KS “the singer who portrayed “Old Black Joe” . . . at the Jackson Jubilee concert in the Senior high school auditorium accidentally short-circuited a foot-light with his cane and frightened the performers and audience almost to death” (The Emporia [KS] Daily Gazette March 12 1925). A couple of fuller accounts will perhaps give some sense of the nature of their act.
Jubilee Singers To Start Local Course
The Jackson Jubilee Singers, a company of seven Negro melodists, will present every variety of Negro music. The music of the American Negro is original and distinct. It is highly colored by the swift emotional reactions of the race and ranges from the carefree and joyous simplicity of the plantation melodies to the subtle peculiar rhythm of the spirituals.
Voodoo songs are a particularly interesting feature of negro music which have attracted wide attention in recent years. Running through these songs is a minor strain of religious fervor, half hypnotic in its intensity, and culminating at times in a frenzy of exaltation baffling to the Anglo-Saxon mind.
The Jackson Jubilee Singers are all excellent Negro melodists. The feeling for harmony instinct in the Negro, have been supported by training and coaching, but the elemental rhythm of their singing has not been soiled. This not only account’s for this company’s extreme popularity but gives to their programs a rare educational value. (Freeport [IL] Journal-Standard November 20 1924)
Jackson Jubilee Singers
This company is composed of seven singers who present negro music at its best. Each member of the company is possessed of a melodious voice, and beautiful harmonies are achieved.
A portion of the program is devoted to the presentation of an old-time cotton plantation scene, and a colorful picture is given of the darkies singing at their work. Every variety of negro music is
given - jubilee chants, plantation melodies and dances, religious hymns, voodoo songs, old tribal melodies and spirituals.
(The Ironwood [MI] Times October 10 1924)
Darkey Melodies Please Audience
The "Singers" include three women and four men, all musicians, and six of these sang and one young woman played accompaniments to all the well known and liked negro melodies, besides some popular favorites of a more modern type. . . . The concert lasted for an hour and forty minutes of continuous singing, one selection following another in quick succession.
Several "request songs" were given, including "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?" which was given with beautiful and impressive effect.
The two young women vocalists have finely trained voices, and in several selections indicated that they could sing other than southern melodies with fine effect.
(Wausau [WI] Daily Record-Herald October 10 1924)
They featured in the summer chautauqua season of 1925, as well as making a radio broadcast on Pittsburgh’s KDKA). The show was called "Plantation Days." It was reported that:
Redpath Artists Are Traveling by Motor This Year
Entertainers, musicians and lecturers appearing on this season's chautauqua program . . are traveling by automobile, according to the announcement of the Redpath chautauqua's first advance representative, who arrived in Bradford. For purposes of economy and convenience a fleet of sedan buses has been secured by the Redpath management, carrying chautauqua baggage, as well as passengers. . . . . .
The Jackson Jubilee Singers . . . will use a touring car and two roadster-trucks for transportation of passengers and baggage on chautauqua's closing day.
The chautauqua circuit of which this city is a part covers approximately 5,000 miles in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and northern Kentucky. The circuit extends from June to September 1 (The Bradford [PA] Era May 28 1925).
A couple of reports give some detail of their performance. In The Charleston [WV] Gazette of July 7 1925 Virginia E. Hoff reported:
Jackson Jubilee Singers Delight Audience With Spiritual and Folk Songs at Final Program
Sextette Members Unusually Versatile
Spirituals, southern folk songs and a variety of present-day college songs delighted the last Charleston Chautauqua audience of this season last night when Jackson Jubilee Singers, colored, presented a program which included yodeling and an Irish song.
Included in the group of talented musicians was a finished sextette, competent soloists, a pianist, and singers who were equally good readers and comedians.
Among the dozens of southern negro songs, familiar to residents of this and more southern states were: "Goin' to Raise the Roof Tonight," "Roll On, Jordan, Roll," "I'm Goin' Set at a Welcome Table," "Goodbye, Honey Mine," "Hand Me Down a Silver Trumpet, Lord," "Swanee River," "Hallelujah, There," "I'm a Witness for the Lord," "You Must Come in at the Door," "God, Ring Them Hebbenly Bells," and "I Feel Like My Time Ain't Long."
The entertainers appeared first in the costumes of the negro at work in the cotton fields and their most impressive number in this scene was "Old Black Joe," sung to banjo accompaniment. Their later numbers were sung as by the cultured and educated negro who still recognizes the value of the old spirituals
Another report in The Portsmouth [OH] Daily Times of July 14 1925 gave the names of some of the group (10):
It is a rare combination that is found in the Jackson singers, that of beautiful voices, musicianly knowledge of their art, humor and pathos and such genuine joy in singing. Dorothy Langston's contralto is rich and velvety, and her stage manner delightful. Then in sharp contrast is the high flute-like voice of Annabelle Smith, soprano. Miss Smith's highest notes are her loveliest ones. Percy Lee, the baritone, is a comedian of unusual ability. The two tall tenors, Raymond Burges and Theodore Ballard, can both sing and act, and the audience was so delighted with Cecil Range's low D in "Asleep in the Deep," that he was forced to sing it again and again.
The songs they sang were not new: "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," "Carry Me Back To Old Virginny," "Old Black Joe," and a group of spirituals (11), but sung as the Jackson Jubilee Singers sang them last night, they will leave pleasant memories of the 1925 Chautauqua in the thought of every hearer. The singers are under the direction of Robert G. Jackson, head of the music department of Western University, Kansas City, Kansas, who acts as accompanist for the group.
And the Lawrence (KS) Daily Journal-World of February 13 1925 said that "The company is composed of Mr. and Mrs. Jackson and five other singers, all of whom possess pleasing voices. The old plantation melodies and negro spirituals were perhaps the most popular numbers on the program, but Mrs. Jackson's beautiful soprano voice was very pleasing in the number "Thank God for a Garden.""
Towards the end of July they were giving a concert at Sydney (OH) when "a near tornado . . blew down the Chautauqua tent . . killing one and seriously injuring several others" (The Richwood [OH] Gazette July 30 1925).
Their performance in the winter season of 1925/6, as in the summer, presented a "scenic production of plantation days." The Indiana [PA] Evening Gazette of October 8 1925 has an interesting account: "The Jackson Jubilee Singers, a troupe of seven colored folks, delightfully entertained the audience for about two hours. The program consisted of two parts. In the first the singers were dressed as workers in the cotton fields and they sang the old negro songs of the south as only colored folks can sing them. The troupe all had excellent, well-trained voices and they blended in a beautiful harmony
They also broadcast again over WOQ (Kansas City Advocate January 15 1926). I have found only a couple of reference to their appearances in the Summer of 1926 (in Las Vegas NM they did a show entitled "Plantation Scenes") but they were certainly back on the road for the Winter 1926/7 season. An announcement of a forthcoming performance in the The Marion [OH] Star of October 16 1926 confirms that what was now Robert Jackson’s Plantation Singers were at that time a quartet. "The company is composed of four singers who present negro music at its best. Each member of the company is possessed of a melodious voice, and beautiful harmonies are achieved. A portion of the program is devoted to the presentation of an old-time cotton plantation scene, and a colorful picture is given of the darkies singing at their work. Every
variety of negro music is given - Jubilee chants, plantation melodies and dances, religious hymns, voodoo songs, old tribal melodies and spirituals." A report in the Hamilton [OH] Evening Journal of January 10 1927 said that "The Plantation Singers . . . include J. S. Dickinson, first tenor, trombonist and banjoist; V. P. Brown, second tenor and pianist; C. L. Russell, baritone and reader, and R. S. Raines, basso and guitarist," i.e. the personnel given in the Redpath brochure mentioned above. A report in the same newspaper two days later commented:-
Harmony in such songs such as "Get on Board," "Down in Mobile," "In the Moonlight," "Old Kentucky Home" and other famous southern melodies, was well rendered. The whole scene, set against the environment of the south, with soft flowing moonlight, added a touch of harmony to the performance itself. Several solos by members of the quartet were exceptionally entertaining.
For the 1927 summer season the name of the group had become Jackson's Jungle Jubilees. We are fortunate in having a detailed account of their performance in The Evening Gazette (Xenia OH) ) of July 21 1927:
Two complete stage sets were used and some special costuming was provided.
The first part was divided into three scenes with the setting in Africa. An explanatory talk concerning each scene was given by Major John J. Hill, who spent eighteen years with Cecil Rhodes in Africa, and who delivered a lecture in the afternoon in his world-wide experiences.
The first scene was a primitive threshing scene, including the beating of tom toms, native dances and songs sung in a native language. An example of the magic of the witch doctors on the "dark continent" was portrayed in the second scene, which showed how a small boy, bitten by a reptile, was miraculously "cured" by one glimpse of the hideous face of the witch doctor.
The third scene showed the excitement occasioned by an unexpected visit of the chief of the village, who told of a thrilling encounter with a snake, which he had killed. Natives of the village then danced for his entertainment.
The second part of the program showed the colored race during the slavery period in the Southern states, and was replete with old, familiar plantation melodies. The final and third part of the entertainment illustrated how the race has become civilised, and the musical numbers changed from primitive jabbering to modern negro spirituals.
The Lima (OH) Sunday News of July 31 1927 reported that: "Van Osborn, a 9-year-old child, is one of nine entertainers included in the group and reports from his appearances in such cities as Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago indicate that he is a "knockout,"" while The Zanesville (OH) Signal of August 13 1927 commented that "A specialty was the singing and dancing of Van Ray Osborne" and The Portsmouth [OH] Daily Times of July 1 1927 said that: "Appearing with the Jackson Jungle Jubilees on chautauqua's closing day, young Osborn, a 9-year-old southern pickaninny is sure to score a big hit with the "cash customers." His professional experience includes the American and Midway Theatres in Chicago, the Gayety Theatre in St. Louis and the Newman, Pantages, Main Street and New Center Theatres in Kansas City. The three-part program to be offered by the Jubilees shows the development of the colored peoples from primitive days, down through the period of slavery, to the present."
It is clear that one of the artists in the above group was Emma Moten Barnett who recorded her experiences thus:
My first professional experience was in that Jackson Jubilee Singers .... He booked us on the Chautauqua circuit.... [I]t would be small cities, small towns, rural towns mainly because that was in the late twenties then. The roads weren't good; the radio hadn't come in yet .... [Y]ou traveled by automobile. We had a bus, a Cadillac bus that they had fixed up for us.... There was a quartet of men and two ladies. Mr. Jackson was the pianist, and trained us. We sang classics as well as the jubilees, solos and popular ballads. We had a whole--an afternoon program that we gave with a lecturer. In the evening, we gave a concert of our own. The lecturer was generally from some university.... [O]ne [of them] had traveled with Cecil Rhodes in Africa....
[T]hey had large tents ... and the tents stayed in one town a week.... They had something every day, maybe a play company, maybe a lecturer, like William Jennings Bryan's daughter, or Woodrow Wilson himself was a lecturer on the Chautauqua circuit, ... a ten-week or twelve-week circuit.... We'd start in Ohio, Pennsylvania, or West Virginia, that whole circuit, like four or five or six states at one time, ... always in summer because you go back to school. You made this money to go to school on.
Another of the members of the group was Miss Bessie Eads - The Negro Star (Wichita KS) of September 16 1927 reported that she “has just returned from the East where she has been traveling with the Jackson Jubilee Singers.”
They continued to perform in the winter series of 1927/8 (as a male quartet, billed as the Jackson Plantation Singers) and in the summer chautauqua of 1928 (a group of seven singers, billed as the Jackson Jubilee Singers - "Special mention is made of Mrs. Jackson, who is one of the very few negro soprano singers in the United States"). The Evening Huronite (SD) of February 22 1929 refers to the Jackson Plantation Singers as "a quartet which appeared in Huron this last summer" and says that "when the company was heard here in the summer there were two women and two men melodists." The Adams County (Corning IA) Free Press of August 3 1928 reported that: "The music furnished by this group of seven people was unique and most delightful. Their spirituals, southern melodies and songs of sentiment followed each other in rapid succession and every number presented some new novelty in the way of harmony, fun and characterization. In the evening the Jackson entertainers again presented a program in plantation setting and costume. Old Black Joe combined with the much loved hymn "Nearer My God to Thee" was a feature of the prelude. Everyone enjoyed these two entertainments which were packed full of fun and sentiment from beginning to end."
But it was a male quartet that appeared on the lyceum circuit in the winter season of 1928/9 and on the chautauqua in the summer of that year (though some reports mention "a male quartet and two women . . [t]heir only accompaniment two guitars" and "this group of seven people"); the Daily Democrat-Forum and Maryville (MO) Tribune of August 8 1928 says that Jackson "has three other companies on the road under the same title" which no doubt explains these variations (12). The account in The Fulton (NY) Patriot of November 28 1928 shows that the show was similar to that of earlier years:
Opening with a plantation scene, this male quartet, organized and coached by Robert Jackson of Kansas City, offers a musical production that is decidedly out of the ordinary. Stage settings and appropriate costumes are used to advantage in the first part of their program, while the later half is devoted to negro spirituals, southern songs and plantation melodies. Many humorous diversions are introduced.
With a wealth and variety of program material, the Plantation Singers immediately convince their hearers that they are genuine artists, who thoroughly enjoy every phase of their work. Their apparently limitless repertoire includes many of the old favorites, such as "Roll, Jordan, Roll" and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," as well as scores of tuneful melodies that, although not generally familiar, are sure to linger long because of their rhythmic excellence. Many of their songs have been taken in crude state and harmonized by the best of modern composers.
A remarkable report in The Havre (MT) Daily News of July 18 1929 is worth including in full:
Negro Singing Co. On Chautauqua
Jackson's Jubilee Singers are to give a program at the Chautauqua this season. The company headed by Robert Jackson is one of the foremost egro singing companies in America.
For the past twenty years Robert Jackson has been training and organizing companies of Jubilee Singers. He has written the music for a great many of the popular negro spirituals and is considered the greatest negro pipe organist in the United States. Jackson is Dean of Music at one of the large negro colleges.
Negro spirituals have attained unusual popularity in the past few years, but the white race has never been altogether successful in imitating the true rhythm and harmony of negro music. The negro has seventeen tones to their scale, while the whites have only thirteen. One of the leading piano companies have undertaken to manufacture a piano to play the quarter tones of the negro. There is a distinctive rhythm and harmony to the negro music that is peculiar to their race.
Negro spirituals originated during slavery times and like the slaves life they do not reach a climax. They are sung in harmony rather than in unison, and usually with a great many repetitions but have a strange appeal to the emotions.
Jackson's programs are well arranged and one never tires of hearing them sing. They are well trained voices, trained to sing real negro music and nearly all members of the company are university graduates. Their program consists of coon shouts, plantation melodies, spirituals and modern music. Special scenic effects and costumes make this an exceptionally pleasing program.
The News-Herald (Franklin PA) of November 1 1928 provides a very detailed account of their performance:-
Opening with a cotton picking scene, while they sang "Old Kentucky Home," the Jackson Plantation Singers . . gave a rapid fire succession of alternate old-time colored songs and modern ones which the large audience will be slow in forgetting. The company is composed of four young colored chaps possessed of good voices, and one of them an accomplished pianist.
"Climb Up, Ye Little Children," the trio of them sang with appropriate actions in regular camp meeting style and then out in the wings the basso was heard in "Old Black Joe." In due time he caned his way upon the stage, singing the well known melody in a voice rather vibrant and smooth for so venerable an appearing old gentleman. The first part of the program continued with the four singers in the character of plantation hands . . . . They surely knew how to arrange their program dramatically, and after old Joe had so musically announced that he was coming, as they held appropriate attitudes they hummed a verse of "Nearer, My God, to Thee."
"O, Brother, Don't You Get Weary," they exhorted in another camp meeting song, with all the characteristic fervor and rhythm of such an occasion in it. And then, "O Get On Board," in which once again the untutored instincts of whoever it is that originates these religious melodies of the colored folks showed the deepest of insight into the way to combine and intertwine the parts of a composition. "Bum, Bum, Bum to South Car'lina" followed closely on the heels of the camp-meeting songs, and then "Way Down On the Old Campground." Of course that led up to "Way Down Yonder in the Corn Field," given in a most original and different way. Then there was a compelling rendition of "Carry Me Back to Ole Virginny," and "In the Evening by the Moonlight."
A beautiful composition by a famous composer trickled from the fingers of the pianist to open the second part, the performers now having discarded their plantation costumes and blossomed out in dress suits. "A-Rolling In My Heart" and "Hallelujah to the Lamb," camp meeting tunes, were given then by the quartet, and one of the best of all, "The City Where the Mansions Are Prepared For Me," and "Comin' Round The Corner."
The baritone of the company sang "Invictus" as a solo and gave an encore. "if You Want to Go to Heaven When You Die," carried the program back into the swayings and gesticulations of the camp meeting, and ther was more of this half enchanting, half amusing stuff in "Oh, Look Way Into Heaven." The quartet gave a spirited rendition then of the celebrated "Soup Song" and another amusing composition built around plays on the names of states. The audience was diverted with the inquiry as to "Where has Oregon?' "What Did Mississip?" and "What Did Delaware?" Two favorite bass solos, "Asleep in the Deep" and "The Lighthouse Bell" were sung by the basso of the company, and the tenor gave, to the accompaniment of his own guitar, a vivid idea of the number of things they sold at Lem Simon's general store. He followed with a reading in which it was surmised that a certain character who sat around the fire all his life, upon dying was sitting around the fire yet. The quartet gave new interest to the familiar "Blue Heaven" by doing it over in the half jazz, half fervid style of so many of the selections, and closed with quartets, "Lullaby" and "Exhortation."
Robert Jackson died on December 25 1929 (13) but the references to the group’s performances in 1930-1931 show that they continued to use the name Robert Jackson’s Plantation (or Jubilee) Singers, as for example in a notice in The Zanesville (OH) Signal of February 5 1931:
Lyceum Number
Robert Jackson's Plantation Singers will present a program in local high school auditorium at 8 o'clock Saturday evening, Feb. 7, as the closing number of the lyceum course.
The program will open with a plantation scene. The male quartet offers a musical production that is decidedly out of the ordinary. Stage settings and appropriate costumes are used to advantage in first part, while the latter half is devoted to negro spirituals, southern songs and plantation melodies. Each member of the company is either a high school or college graduate.
Among the numbers scheduled are "Roll, Jordan Roll," "Get On Board," "Going To Fly Away To Heaven," “Hand Me Down My Silver Trumpet," etc.
But it was not long before they settled on the Deep River Plantation Singers as their new name. A Redpath brochure (with a photograph of a quartet) describes them as “Successors to Jackson’s Jubilee Singers” and summarises their performance as follows:-
The rhythm and character of songs of the colored race are a relic and inheritance, combining joy, superstition and religion. Their jubilee chants, plantation melodies, camp-meeting shouts and spirituals are authentic in every detail, when offered by the Deep River Male Quartet.
Opening with an original scene, these entertainers offer a musical production that is decidedly out of the ordinary. Stage settings and appropriate costuming are used to advantage in the first part of their program, while the latter half is devoted to negro spirituals, southern and plantation melodies. Many humorous diversions are introduced.
With a wealth and variety of program material, the Plantation Singers immediately convince their hearers that they are genuine artists who thoroughly enjoy every phase of this work. Their apparently limitless repertoire includes many of the old favorites such as “Roll, Jordan, Roll” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” “Halleluah,” (sic), “Old Black Joe,” “You’se My Honey I Love So Well,” - Selections from “Show Boat,” - “Ol’ Man River,” “Lonesome Road:” as well as scores of tuneful melodies that, although not generally familiar, are sure to linger long because of their rhythmic excellence. Many of their songs have been taken in a crude state and harmonized by the best modern composers.
The Lubbock (TX) Morning Avalanche of June 11 1932 gave the following account of their concert:-
That inborn rhythm and harmony in the negro heart was shown at its trained best Friday night at Lubbock high school auditorium . . . . The artists, they measured in every respect to that norm – were the Deep River Plantation Singers, and they enjoyed every old Southern song, every spiritual, every number which they gave. Their jubilee chants, plantation melodies, camp-meeting shouts and spirituals were authentic.
In the first part of their well-filled program, the quartet appeared in overalls in a cotton-picking scene. Numbers in this division included “My Old Kentucky Home,” “I want to Be Ready for the Judgment Day,” “Old Black Joe,” “I’m Gonna Fly Away to Heben,” and “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny.” Special lighting effects were used.
Then, appearing in tuxedos, the negroes gave “Going Home” (Dvorak), “Plenty Good Room in the Father’s Kingdom,” “Train A-Comin’,” and other numbers. Tenor and bass solos were given, and one read a poem by Paul Lawrence Dunbar, colored poet. A medley which included “Ol’ Ma River,” “Lonesome Road,” and “Deep River,” also was offered.
In every way, the negro accompanist showed supreme sympathy with the singers and entered into the joy of the program.
A report in The Emporia (KS) Daily Gazette of July 13 1932 lists the personnal as "Raymond Burgin, John E. Garth, George Mansfield and Julius Sharp. Miss (sic!) Vivian Brown is the pianist."
The brochure mentioned above contains testimonials dated to 1929 and 1930 and says that Charles F. Horner was the group’s manager. Another brochure (probably later, since the management is said to be Horner-Moyer Inc. of Kansas City) depicts a quartet with a pianist and though the text is similar to that given above it adds to their repertoire “Da’s A Jubilee,” “Climb Up, Ye Little Children,” “When The Moon Swings Low,” and selections from “Hallelujah,” “Green Pastures,” “Emperor Jones” and other famous negro productions. “Juba Dance,” “Barcarolle,” and Percy Grainger’s concert arrangement of “Turkey In the Straw,” for piano; “De Glory Road,” “Why Darkies Were Born,” and “Lazy River” are representative of a limited number of solos unusually (sic) included. The brochure concludes thus:-
The Deep River Plantation Singers are trained musicians, possessing the power and finish acquired only by long professional experience, yet singing and entertaining always with that abandon and spontaneity which so richly characterizes the rare artistry of their race.
Programs of musical excellence, including works of the best known negro composers, gripping dramatizations, and a great variety of entertaining and humorous diversions, make this attraction unique, and one of the most delightful on the American stage.
A full account of their programme is given by The Lincoln (NE) Star of November 28 1932.
Opening their concert with "Kentucky Home," the singers devoted the first thirty minutes to plantation songs. No accompaniment was used. . . . Specialities of the evening included two solos by the baritone, John E. Garth, "Glory Road," by Wolfe, and Robinson's "Water Boy." Julius Sharp, bass, sang "Asleep in the Deep," "Over the Billowy Sea," and the "Big Bass Viol." V. S. Brown who accompanied during the last half of the program, played two piano selections, "Juba Dance," and "Barcarole," both by Dett. Ray E. Burgin, the first tenor with the sparkling voice, gave two readings, "The Party" and "Settin' Around the Fire." Favorites of the program were: "Goin' home," "Deep River" by Smith, "Swing Along" by Cook, and such animated choices as: "Down in Mobile," "Train's A'Comin'," "Plenty Good Room," "Climb, Ye Little Chillun, Climb," "Honey," and "In the Evenin' by the Moonlight."
During the 1933 summer chautauqua season they were joined by Van Osborne, now aged 15, who had appeared with the Jackson Jubilee Singers in 1927
They even got as far as Canada, as is shown by The Lawrence (KS) Daily Journal-World of December 12 1933:
One of the most enjoyable University lecture association numbers was given in Centenary hall Wednesday evening, when the Deep River Plantation Singers appeared. This colored quartet, which is under the management of Charles F. Horner, Kansas City, has recently returned from a concert tour of Canada. The program was divided into three parts. The first scene depicted Negro plantation life; spirituals and songs of the south were sung. The second group included classical compositions, spirituals, tap dancing by a small colored boy, and dramatic interpretations by the baritone of “The Glory Road” and “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” The last group was more modern in nature, including such favorites as “Dinah” and Stormy Weather.” This well received program also included piano solos and readings.
The Rio Grande Farmer (Las Cruces NM) of July 5 1934 quoted an account of a concert in Ontario:
Attired as cotton pickers grouped about baskets of cotton, the singers were heard first in the familiar 'My Kentucky Home,' the strains coming softly to the audience even before the curtains parted . . . . The Singers then took up the more joyful notes of 'Climb Up Ye Little Children,' followed by 'In Jerusalem, Just Like John,' the bass singer featured in 'Old Black Joe,' taking the low notes with ease. Among the group of songs that completed the first part of the program were 'Goin' to Fly Away to Heaven,' 'The Old Camp ground,' 'Down in Mobile,' 'Old Virginny,' the singers acting out many of the passages of the songs. In this part the quartette was unaccompanied save for the strumming of the banjo. Opening the second part V. S. Brown, second tenor and leader of the quartette, proved himself to be a talented pianist as well, his rendition of Bartlet's Grand Polka de Concert, and of the intricate 'Etude Arabesque' (Loschotisky) winning prolonged applause. . . Mr. Brown then acted as accompanist for the quartette's remaining program.
A 1934 report shows the extent to which they varied their programme from show to show. The (Lincoln) Nebraska State Journal of April 9 reported that "Special numbers such as a baritone solo "Water Boy" sung by John Garth, a burlesque of the quartet from "Rigoletto" and a piano solo, "Revolutionary Etude`' by Chopin, played by V. S. Brown, pianist for the singers, proved exceptionally popular. Popular numbers of the program were "Bells of Eventide" arranged by Black, "Goin' Home," "Plenty Good Room," and "Joshua Fit De Battle of Jericho"."
References to the group are scanty in 1936 and 1937 and I have found nothing of their activities in 1938, but reports in The Salt Lake (UT) Tribune of March and April 1939 not only give the personnel of the quartette but also list the programme to be performed at the concerts.
At an appearance in Lubbock TX in July 1942 the Jackson Jubilee Singers are said to be George Mansfield, first tenor, V. Seymour Brown, second tenor, James Brown, baritone, and Herbert Williams, bass with George Pierson as pianist. It will be noted that V. S. Brown was with the group in 1926/7, appeared on their recording session in 1931 and was still with them in 1942. The programme was to include: Swing Along (Cook); Goin' Home (Dvorak); Great Getting Up Morning (traditional); Close Harmony (O'Hara), and State Song (traditional); piano solos by Pierson; Asleep in the Deep (Petrie); You Must Be A Lover (traditional); Lullaby (William Dawson); A Spirit Flower (Tipton); and Joshua (traditional); solo, by V. S. Brown; reading by James brown; Yuba (Hupfeld); De Animals A Comin' (Bartholomew) ; Short'nin' Bread (Wolfe); Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (traditional); Deep River (N. Clark Smith); Rigoletto (Verdi-Bostford), and The Old Flag (J. Rosamund Johnson).
A Redpath brochure of The Jackson Jubilee Singers, which can be dated to 1941 or 1942, depicts five men, one at the piano. The notes mainly deal with the return of John Garth III to the group; the only other possible connection to the earlier groups is that the management is said to be Horner-Moyer Inc. of Kansas City who also managed the Deep River Plantation Singers. John Garth had worked with Eva Jessye’s group and was later to appear in various shows on Broadway. This group appeared in Las Cruces (NM) in July 1942; the Las Cruces (NM) Sun-News of July 19 reported that "their repertoire includes many of the old favorites, such as "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," "When The Moon Swings Low," and many others. Selections from "Show Boat," "Hallelujah" "Green Pastures," "Emperor Jones" "Porgy and Bess," and many others are offered. John Garth III, baritone of the group, was selected for the principal part as the Undertaker in "Porgy and Bess" on Broadway, and has recently been in a revival of that production. He also has toured with the company in Canada." It is a fitting tribute to Robert Jackson that more than ten years after his death his name was still being used in the title of a group only remotely connected with that which he founded.
Notes
(1) In the booklet to the Bear Family Julia Lee box set (BCD 15 770 EI) Bill Millar says that Julia Lee was one of Jackson's students at Western University.
(2)I have seen listed by a bookseller a ‘card, printed single side, with a photo of Jackson - presumably, the main attraction at the concert - and the lyrics to F. B. Silverwood's poetical song, "I Love You, California," chorus by William Nauns Rics, a salute to Jackson. The verse for Jackson reads: "You are welcome to dear California, / Professor Jackson, for your fame; / From the East to the West you are known as the best / That from old Kansas ever came. / There the noble John Brown sought our freedom, / Here we glory in his name. / So we welcome you more to the State we adore / To our dear old California."’ The bookseller dated the card to 1915 and speculates that it was published in Oakland, so it can be presumed to have been issued on the occasion reported above.
(3) See http://www3.wycokck.org/static/planning.zoning/HISTORY2004/quindaro.pdf.
(4) See “What was Chautauqua?” (http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/traveling-culture/essay.htm)
(5) Ibid.
(6) See “Traveling Culture: Circuit Chautauqua in the Twentieth Century” (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/chautauqua/index.html).
(7) Her reminiscences are included in Ruth Edmond Hill (ed.), The Black Women Oral History Project Vol. 2 (New York 1991). A passage from her reminiscences is cited below.
(8) In the web site cited in note 1. Also by Helen Walker-Hill, ‘Western University at Quindaro, Kansas (1865-1943) and its legacy of pioneering musical women,’ Black Music Research Journal 26. 1 (2006) 7-37; this article also contains useful material on Robert Jackson. Stephanie Stokes Oliver, in her Song For My Father (2004), says that her brother Norris Stokes "traveled with the Jackson Jubilee Singers."
(9) Sic, but I wonder if ‘melodists’ was intended.
(10) An almost contemporary report lists the quartet as Ray Burgins , first tenor; William Smith, second tenor; Percy Lee, baritone, and R. C. Haines, basso profundo (Athens [OH] Sunday Messenger July 5 1925).
(11) "Among the most popular songs to be presented by the Jackson Jubilees will be a group of spirituals including "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." "Bye and Bye," " Roll, Jordan, Roll" and "Come Out of the Wilderness." The ever popular "Hera Dem bells" will be offered along with "Hand Me Down the Silver Trumpet," "When the Moon Swings Low," "Listen to the Lambs," "It's So High" and "Ding Dong Bells."" (The Altoona [PA] Mirror June 10 1925).
(12) The Daily Democrat-Forum and Maryville (MO) Tribune mentions "Oreece Corporal, bass singer, . . . Etta G. Moten, dramatic reader . . . Alfren Geary, Mrs. Annette Jackson, Raymond Biringens (sic), and J. G. Kinchien."
(13) A full obituary is to be found in The Topeka Plaindealer of December 27 1929.